somatic cell

noun, Cell Biology

one of the cells that take part in the formation of the body, becoming differentiated into the various tissues, organs, etc.

any cell other than a germ cell.

Origin

1885-90

Examples from the web for somatic cell

In nuclear transplantation cloning, the nucleus is removed from an egg and replaced with the diploid nucleus of a somatic cell.

British Dictionary definitions for somatic cell

somatic cell

noun

any of the cells of a plant or animal except the reproductive cells Compare germ cell

somatic cell in Medicine

somatic cell n.
Any cell of a plant or an animal other than a germ cell.

Encyclopedia Article for somatic cell

in biology, all the living matter of an animal or a plant except the reproductive, or germ, cells. The distinction between the soma and the germ cells was propounded by the 19th-century German biologist August Weismann in the "germ plasm" theory that emphasized the role of the immortal, heredity-carrying genes and chromosomes, which are transmitted through successive generations of each species and determine the character of each individual in the propagative chain

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